The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and State Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge span in the world (4,200 foot) when it was completed in 1937 and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California.Despite its red appearance, the colour of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange. The colour was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it blends well with the natural surroundings yet enhances the bridge’s visibility in fog.The bridge’s two towers rise 746 feet making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument. The five lane bridge crosses Golden Gate Strait which is about 400 feet, or 130 meters, deep. The bridge consists of two towers of 746 feet this makes it 191 feet higher than the Washington Monument. The five lanes of the Golden Gate Bridge are about 400 feet or 130 meters deep.The towers that support the Golden Gate Bridge’s suspension cables are smaller at the top than at the base, emphasizing the tower height of 500 feet above the roadway Coit Tower is another San Francisco landmark with an Art Deco design.Linking San Francisco with Marin County the Golden Gate Bridge is a 1.7 mile-long suspension bridge that can be crossed by car, on bicycles or on foot. On an average day 118,000 vehicles cross the bridge. The bridge has six total lanes of vehicle traffic, and walkways on both sides of the bridge.
The speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 55 mph (89 km/h) to 45 mph (72 km/h) on 1 October 1983. The eastern walkway is for pedestrians and bicycles during the weekdays and during daylight hours only, and the western walkway is open to bicyclists on weekday afternoons, weekends, and holidays.It united three Boroughs of New York: Manhattan, the Bronx, and Queens. It remains the largest vertical-lift bridge in the world. It joins three giant bridges into one and consists of 13,500 feet of elevated viaduct and fourteen miles of roadway, all travelling over Randall’s and Ward’s Islands. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City.
Golden Gate Bridge History
Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay.Ferry service began as early as 1820, with regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for purposes of transporting water to San Francisco. The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920s. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific’s automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. Golden Gate Bridge is a Great Place For Vacations. The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost US$1.00 per vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge. The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes.
Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city’s growth rate was below the national average. Many experts said that a bridge couldn’t be built across the 6,700 ft (2,042 m) strait. It had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 372 ft (113 m) in depth at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds. Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.
Golden Gate Bridge Design
The Golden Gate Bridge design echoes an Art Deco Theme. Wide, vertical ribbing on the horizontal tower bracing accents the sun’s light on the bridge.The towers that support the Golden Gate Bridge’s suspension cables are smaller at the top than at the base, emphasizing the tower height of 500 feet above the roadway. Irving Morrow—an architect hired by Strauss to design an architectural treatment for the bridge—chose the ‘international orange’ paint color to blend with the setting while still being very visible to ships.
Coit Tower is another San Francisco landmark with an Art Deco design.Timothy Pflueger was probably the most prolific and renowned Art Deco Architect in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Golden Gate Bridge Facts
Golden Gate refers to Golden Gate Strait—a name that originated around 1846.The Golden Gate Bridge’s 4,200 foot long main suspension span was a world record that stood for 27 years. It is still the second longest in the United States after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge which links Staten Island to Brooklyn in New York.The bridge’s two towers rise 746 feet making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument.
The five lane bridge crosses Golden Gate Strait which is about 400 feet, or 130 meters, deep. Simple yellow markers are used to switch the center lane so that there are three lanes into San Francisco for the morning commute and three leaving The City in the afternoon and evening.Golden Gate Bridge Tolls are only collected on the way in (going south). The toll on the Golden Gate Bridge increased to $5.00/4.00 FasTrak on September 1, 2002, later raised to $6.00/$5.00.Multi-axle vehicle rates (3 or more axels) will rise on July 1, 2012. There are no carpool lanes on the Golden Gate Bridge Holidays in USA. In 1902 the Thomas Edison company shot a movie (No.37) from a passenger train going from the Cliff House and Sutro Baths along the cliff at Lands End to the Golden Gate. Of course, this was before the Golden Gate Bridge was built so you won’t see it in the movie.
Construction
Construction began on January 5, 1933. The project cost more than $35 million. The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of Lehigh University.Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he placed a brick from his alma mater’s demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured. He innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the construction site, which saved the lives of many otherwise-unprotected steelworkers. Of eleven men killed from falls during construction, ten were killed (when the bridge was near completion) when the net failed under the stress of a scaffold that had fallen. Nineteen others who were saved by the net over the course of construction became proud members of the (informal) Half Way to Hell Club.The project was finished by April 1937, $1.3 million under budget.With the death of Jack Balestreri in April, 2012, all workers involved in the original construction are now deceased.